Game 16 sees the yellow and green Canaries of Norwich flying into town for a visit to the Bluebirds nest, though with our recent home form it has become a bit more like a vipers nest then a feathery one for visiting teams, such a nice change from recent seasons! Norwich come to us as the joint least in-form team along with QPR having picked up just 1 point in their last 6. Their last win coming 7 games ago in a 2-1 win v Birmingham. Gaffer David Wagner arrived around 10 months ago to much acclaim and with the hope that he could replicate his achievements at Huddersfield with the much better equipped Canaries, however it’s probably fair to say that things haven’t quite gone to plan with the team currently languishing in 17th spot. The Norwich squad is packed with experience, with Angus Gunn between the sticks and the likes of Shane Duffy, Ben Gibson and Danny Baath in front of him, not to mention the Canaries very own Greek International Giannoulis (should be some interesting tussles at corners between him and Goutas you’d think). In midfield Gabriel Davi Gomes Sara and Jon Rowe appear to be their main men with 5 and 8 goals each so far this term and even outdoing their recognised strikers in the scoring stakes (big Ginger Josh Sargent has 3, Adam Idah 4 to their names). Clearly scoring goals isn’t an issue for the Norfolk men, but with 30 goals conceded, they stand out as having the worst defensive record in the division, something the Bluebirds with their new found home form can exploit hopefully. Last time out saw the Bluebirds on the back end of a 2-0 defeat at Carrow Road and it must be said. Our record overall v Norwich is pretty poor so now seems as good a time as any to add to the slightly more positive results we’ve had against them since the turn of the millennium. Bulut's Bulletin Once again this week it seems that the Bluebirds have managed to retain their relatively clean bill of health, with long terms absentees Callum O'Downda and Aaron Ramsey the only missing players. On Rambo it does sound as though there has been a slight hiccup in his recovery, however Erol still believes that he may be back prior to Christmas which could prove excellent news if true. With this clean bill of health it would take a foolish man to bet against Bulut retaining the same starting line up as we've seen in the last 2-3 games meaning young Rubin will again be settling for a place on the bench. Our visitors appear to be facing a bit of a mini defensive crisis at the moment with Grant Hanley just recovering from injury, Ben Gibson injured and Shane Duffy suspended. When asked about the Bluebirds the Canary gaffer stated "It's a proper challenge. For us, we know what is in front of us. We need to be competitive and get points from the game. We're aware of their home record, but we need to be aware of how they attack and how they defend. These are the areas we need to execute." Past Meetings Hard to believe this was only last season with so much happening since then.... A Romaine Sawyers inspired home win Plenty of goalmouth action in this 3-1 home win from 2017. And just for good measure, a throwback to another 3-1 home win in 2010 and ex-Canary Craig Bellamy in the side and some excellent wing play from Chris Burke... how nice would a similar result be on Saturday eh? What Are The Odds On That? VT is clearly pleased to be back on home soil and is feeling exceptionally confident, indeed he is looking a lot like the cat that got the cream (or Canary), but just like Sylvester, is he maybe getting a little too cocky? Let's hope Erol can repay the faith in these odds!! Well I Never Did you know that Norwich had the first ever postcodes? Yep, today there are more than 1.8 million postcodes in the UK – every street has one. But, at one time, only streets in Norwich were recalled by a series of letters and numbers. That’s because the GP decided to trial it there back in 1959. If you ask me though, I reckon they missed a trick, they should have all entered the postcode lottery, their odds on winning would have been brilliant, even better than their team's odds for the game this weekend!! One for Sparkey now - Back in the day (oh ok, the 17th century but I'm sure a few of you were around then), Norwich had 600 pubs. But the 1904 Licensing Act, Second World War and slum clearances in the 1960s saw many forced to close. King Street was the worst hit, with the number of pubs there falling from 58 to one. And the name of that one pub? It’s the Last Pub Standing, of course. Let's just hope we can sink the Canaries as easily as they used to be able to sink pints eh? Sharing The Love Plenty of players have appeared for both teams over the years, indeed, I could have just rolled Peter Thorne over from last week, though Norwich fans will have a rather dimmer view of him than we do with his record for them being just 2 goals in 42 games! So, here's a small selection which includes an absolute stalwart of a Bluebird as well as a record breaking striker. Earnie in typical poses - seen so many times by Cardiff Fans Rob Earnshaw Coming through the ranks at Cardiff City, the diminutive striker never really looked like anything special in his early years for the Bluebirds, however by his own admission, a loan spell up in Scotland with Greenock Morton really appeared to toughen up and galvanise ‘Earnie’ and from the 2000-2001 season onwards he went on to delight the Bluebirds faithful right up until his departure in 2004. The 2002-2003 season was the absolute pinnacle of his time with his boyhood club, breaking a longstanding club record to become the Bluebirds highest goal-scorer in a single season, netting 35 times in 55 games that year, including 31 in the league. Sadly Earnie became a casualty of the Sam Hammam spend and bust era, being sold on to West Bromwich Albion for a reported £3 million, despite the ‘enigmatic’ owner having previously stated that he could never risk selling him for fear that "They would hang me in the city centre" if he was sold (missed opportunity there in some respects for us Bluebirds fans!). He later returned to the club on a free transfer under Malky Mackay, however his stay was relatively brief and he only made 19 further appearances for the club, scoring 3 goals in that time as his abilities started to wane somewhat. To the best of my knowledge, he remains the only player in history to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League, all three divisions of the Football League, the League Cup, the FA Cup, and for country in an international match. After retiring from playing in January 2016 he became a youth coach with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Moving on to become assistant coach for United Soccer League side Fresno FC, and ultimately joining USL Championship side Orange County SC as assistant coach in 2021. With a career record of 216 goals in 519 games, I genuinely believe that Earnshaw could rightly be described as a legend of the game. Sod the 'tash - just look at that hair at Spurs! Roger Gibbins Starting out at his boyhood team Spurs, Gibbins joined the Bluebirds for the first time in 1982 after spells with Oxford, our visitors this weekend Norwich, a brief sojourn to the US with New England Tea Men and Cambridge. Joining the recently-relegated side, the midfielder was about to play a key part in their return to Division Two, being ever-present throughout the 1982/83 campaign. In one interview Gibbins reminisced "When I was at Tottenham, Jimmy Andrews had been there too with the youth sides,". "Years later and unbeknownst to me, when I was in America, he'd become manager at Cardiff City and had at one point tried to sign me! "It was really strange when I found out years later, as it could well have meant that I'd have joined Cardiff City much earlier than I had ended up doing. "A few years into my time with Cambridge, City's new manager at the time, Len Ashurst, had a scout who lived near where I was playing. I met Len and liked him immediately. He had a reputation as a rather hard sort, known for taking his players for weekends up cold mountainsides when he was managing Sheffield Wednesday and so on! He offered me a place at the club and an opportunity to play regularly, and I took it. "There was something about the Club, and Ninian Park in particular. I was sat down in the office and looked over the pitch, and could see it was a proper ground. "I knew that things were different right away as I crossed that bridge over into South Wales. I'd been living in Cambridge for three years, so hadn't seen a hill in ages, let alone a valley! There was something about it that appealed to me, and I've not left the place 39 years later." When I came back to play for the Bluebirds in 1989, it was one of the biggest thrills of my career." he explained. "I'd never left the area because I'd been playing for Newport County under my former teammate Jimmy Mullen, so Ninian Park always felt like it was just down the road. "Frank Burrows gave me the opportunity to join City, so I came back and it was brilliant. We had a good team and Frank was a terrific manager. "When I re-joined in March 1989 there were just over 10 games remaining in the season and we were a bit lower than we'd have liked to have been in Division Three. "I'd been a substitute in my first games back, and we needed a few decent results to keep us up at that point. We went up to Bramall Lane to play Sheffield United, who were first or second in the table and pushing for promotion. "They had Brian Deane up front, who was a nightmare to deal with. Anyway, when we arrived I was called in by Frank, who told me that I was going to start that night. He changed the formation up a bit so that it was a back three, with myself acting as a sweeper, in with Terry Boyle and Nigel Stevenson. "Sheffield were probably expecting to walk all over us, but we dug in, battled, and won it 1-0. We stuck in with a few more results, and managed to stay up at the end of that campaign. "We were relegated the following year, but it felt right that before I left the Club, City had been promoted again as they did in '93." With a total of almost 300 league appearances for Cardiff City across two spells at Ninian Park, Roger left the Club for a final time as a player in 1993. Sadly for Bluebirds fans, this was an atypical pose for Murphy! Josh Murphy June 2018, Murphy joined Premier League side Cardiff City on a 4-year contract for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £11 million. He made his debut for the club on the opening day of the 2018–19 season as a substitute in place of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing during a 2–0 defeat to AFC Bournemouth. Following a short spell on the sidelines, Murphy scored his first Cardiff goal against Burnley, followed by his second in 4–2 win over Fulham. Sadly however, for all the promise that Murphy had, he never managed to shine for any consistent length of time and will arguably go down as a bit of a flop for the Bluebirds. Even when loaned to Preston towards the end of his time with Cardiff he failed to make an impression and was sent back early with some harsh home truths being provided by then North End manager Ryan Lowe. On June 10, 2022, Cardiff announced Murphy would leave the club when his contract expired on June 30. On 26 July 2022, Murphy signed a two-year deal with League One side Oxford United where he remains today, alongside fellow ex-Bluebirds Ciaron Brown and Mark Harris. Good old 'Frank' Spencer Prior - none of us Bluebirds really knew where the ball would end up after his interventions - I think this pic shows neither did he! Spencer Prior With Man City achieved promotion to the Premier League Spencer Prior found his first team opportunities limited as the then City manager, Joe Royle, brought in Steve Howey, Richard Dunne and Paul Ritchie, thus, Prior made a moved to Cardiff City for a reported £700,000 fee. It was rumoured that Prior’s contract had some interesting clauses, but I won’t bleat about it here, you can read the article in more detail thanks to Sky; https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2212668/why-spencer-needs-a-sheep His three-year stint at Ninian Park saw him make 81 league appearances, scoring two goals, being released by Cardiff after his contract ended and so he returned to the club where he began his career, Southend United, in July 2004. In his first two seasons back at Roots Hall, the team won consecutive promotions. After retiring from playing football, Prior moved to Australia and became a football analyst for Fox Sports Australia but ended up signing for A-League club Newcastle Jets in 2008 until the end of the 2008–09 season. He’d go on to coach the Thailand women's national team, being hailed for bringing through major changes in the team's tactical awareness and competitiveness. In July 2019, he joined Thai League 1 club Port F.C. as Technical Director. After Prior's arrival, Port won five of their next six matches and won the 2019 Thai FA Cup, defeating Ratchaburi Mitr Phol 1–0 in the final. Prior returned to Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic and commenced coaching duties with NSW NPL club APIA Leichhardt FC's women's team in September 2020 leaving there in 2022 to become manager of the Papua New Guinea's women's team, where he remains today. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64665849 So will the Bluebirds be tweeting out victory messages after ruffling Norwich's feathers? Will Delia hit the bottle again and feel the need to issue a fruitless rallying cry?? Or can Meite prove jck wrong and help the Bluebirds suck seed in their battle of the birds??? All I know is so long as we remain mellow fellows Erol will avoid any yellow perils!! Bloooooooooooooooobirds!!!!!! \0/<0>\0/<0>\0/<0>\0/
Epic Brizzle I'd just like to point out that a remained patient and loyal Don't know what to expect from Norwich at the moment. All the more reason to concentrate on our game and dictate how it's played. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
Only top two Leicester and Ipswich have scored more goals than Norwich this season but they've also conceded the most - they've let in 30, nearly twice as many as us. They are not a happy club at the moment and we are. If we don't win this home game coming off the back of those stats and the confidence differential between the two teams, we'll only have ourselves to blame. Although a one nil will do, I'm looking for our guys up front to start firing from open play rather than leaving it to set piece situations. Must say I'm seriously concerned of the fact that we're down as even money favourites to win it - never like that. Time for the likes of Grant/Robbo/Meite to step up and do the job they're out there for and that's principally to finish chances that come their way. Colwill, Bowler and Tanner can provide the ammo as well as score themselves, and if our excellent back 4 can keep another clean sheet we should win this comfortably.
Won't get that here in Portugal as the bars where I'm staying don't seem keen on showing UK football. Ah well, another afternoon in the sun tanning my finely honed body. Another masterpiece BB. And no mention of Ubgo.
No Ng.......... Cardiff City XI: Alnwick; Romeo, Goutas, McGuinness, Collins; Siopis, Ralls; Bowler, Robinson, Grant; Meite. Subs: Runarsson, Wintle, Etete, Ugbo, Adams, Sawyers, Panzo, Colwill, Tanner.
Didn't see the game but sounded like Norwich gave it a real go in the 2nd half? Was their winner as unfortunate for us as it sounded?? Sky had it down as Wintle own goal after a save by Alnwick... Shades of Ipswich away for us (no offence Canaries).
